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Founded in 2012, Pop Up Archive finalized its Audiosear.ch product on November 28, probably having something to do with the acquisition.

The Audiosear.ch website that allowed users to search for podcasts now reads: "Hey, we finished the operations and support for Audiosear.ch on 11/28/17, we were delighted to see what you created with this technology and we appreciate your support over the years. "

It's unclear what terms Apple and Pop Up Archive played, and Apple did not share details about how they can incorporate the Pop Up Archive equipment or technology into their Podcasts product.

In a typical boilerplate statement about acquisitions, an Apple spokesman said: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time.We do not usually discuss our purposes or plans."

In April, Apple renamed its Podcasts service as "Apple Podcasts" from "iTunes Podcasts." The rebranding hinted at a new push for Apple's podcast under an independent podcast client outside the iTunes umbrella.

Apple has seen more competition in the podcast space, with streaming competitor Spotify releasing its own podcast features earlier this year. Some estimates say that the market share of Apple's podcast has dropped from around 70 percent to 55 percent, as a result.

This is not the first acquisition that Apple has made to strengthen its podcast offerings. In 2014, the iPhone giant acquired the Swell application for iOS, a service described as "Pandora-for-talk-radio".